In brochures, tip cards, bookmarks and public service ads, the agency hopes to get across a single message: Hang up.

"It's important that consumers have the information they need to protect themselves from telemarketing fraud," FTC spokeswoman Claudia Bourne Farrell said. "The consumer education campaign will help them get the word."

The campaign is the work of the Partnership for Consumer Education, an umbrella group that brings together FTC regulators, local advocates, law enforcement groups and trade associations to work on more pro-active solutions to consumer problems.

The partnership was established shortly after the U.S. Congress enacted the Telemarketing Sales Rule in December 1995. The rule limits sales calls to between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m., prohibits telemarketers from calling people who request not to be solicited, and makes salespeople identify up front who they are and what they're selling.

Since the rule went into effect, the FTC has orchestrated four big sweeps targeting different areas of telemarketing fraud:

State regulators worked with the FTC in each of those actions and also took some of their own. The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, for example, recently fined GLS Direct-South Inc. of Philadelphia $19,500 for calling people on the state's "no sales solicitation" list.

But more enforcement alone won't end the problem, consumer advocates say.

"Telemarketing fraud is still very pervasive and our senior citizens continue to remain targets of these scam artists," said Rosemarie Bonta, spokeswoman for the Better Business Bureau of South Florida. "While many legitimate telemarketers operate in this country, consumers need to know they don't need to be taken in by slick con men."